Rocky immediately counters this image with an underground rap concert that he himself is the star of.
The next scene depicts the typical rural American family: a pickup truck with a dead deer in the back, a quaint house, the family dog and a young boy carrying a hunting rifle. However, one of the purposes of “Gunz n Butta” is to comment on the inherent racism in this country, which Roof, an unabashed white supremacist, sought to propagate when he massacred an all-black congregation in Charleston. Some argue that the incorporation of the Roof lookalike is only working to perpetuate the unhealthy attention that is given to mass shooters, as it works to potentially encourage others to commit atrocities in the hopes of gaining fame. It then cuts to a 3-D printing of a plastic gun, forming the narrative of the very real threat of mass manufactured plastic weaponry, a dangerous addition to the consumerist society. In a different yet similar factory, newspapers are stretched across a vast assembly line, their content also ready for mass consumption. Slabs of meat plop onto a conveyor belt, ready to be packaged and distributed. The scene that follows showcases a chicken production plant dominated by bright reds, yellows and a glaring overhead light, which switches the time period back to modern day. How many people had to die of lung cancer until something was done with the tobacco industry? How many schools have to be terrorized before something is done about America’s gun violence epidemic? People participate in industries that are killing them, and the government rarely steps in to regulate to avoid losing profit and support from privatized companies. Rocky’s incorporation of this particular campaign supports the notion that American gun production can be seen as a social experiment of sorts.
The man on screen, a hearty white man garbed in a tweed jacket, dutifully sells the product, claiming it to be “richer than ever before!” Cigarette production, in all of its dangerous glory, generates about $ 15.5 billion annually, a shockingly low number in comparison to the $ 51.3 billion made within the firearm industries. The scene changes to an antiquated commercial for Guns and Butter cigarettes. The classroom explodes and the limbs of the dummy-doll students rain down amongst the ash and rubble.
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